A buyer will test the business and the number.
The first is readiness.
A company built over decades by one person or one family is usually in better shape than its records suggest. Buyers, and the lenders behind them, look for a board, a clean cap table, monthly reporting, audited statements and written procedures. They also look at how much of the business depends on you personally.
The second is value.
What a buyer pays is shaped by recent performance, forward revenue and the qualities that make a company hard to replace.
Both are fixable, and neither is quick. Both get harder once a buyer is already looking.
We sell the kinds of companies we run.
Marco Barone runs manufacturing businesses employing more than 120 people, alongside a real estate development firm. He signs the personal guarantees, meets the payroll, and sits across from buyers with his own money at stake.
Behind that perspective are three generations of building, financing, running and selling companies. It began in 1954, when Luigi Barone arrived in Montreal from Italy and started with a single pickup truck.
THE CARRARA PRINCIPLE
Value is prepared, defended, and structured.
01. Prepared
We look at your business the way a buyer's lender will, and tell you what they will find while there is still time to do something about it.
02. Defended
We establish a defensible view of what the market is likely to support and the evidence behind it. If our view of the market differs from yours, we say so at the start.
03. Structured
Price is one term among many. Who buys the company, how the deal is financed, what happens to your people and what your own role looks like afterwards all change what a transaction is worth to you. A sale is rarely only a financial decision, and structure is where that shows.
Who we work with
We work with owners considering a sale, a succession, or a recapitalization.
Best fit
Founder-owned and second- or third-generation businesses in manufacturing, home services such as HVAC, plumbing, electrical, pest control and security, and public utility work such as sewers and water supply. Revenue above $5 million with EBITDA at or above 10%.
Usually not a fit
Businesses under $5 million in revenue, one-person operations, and technology-heavy companies. If that is you, we may say so early and decline the mandate.
No retainer or deposit. Carrara is paid when the transaction closes.
Urgency is expensive
Owners often wait until a decision is urgent before preparing for it. Urgency rarely produces the best outcome. It compresses your choices, raises the pressure, and leaves less room for discretion.
The owners who do best start while the business is still strong, relationships are intact, and there is time to fix what a buyer would otherwise discount.
Some owners need capital, a partner, or a different balance sheet. We will say so when that is the better route. That conversation is worth having years before a transaction.
Legacy is protected through readiness.